Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a national system of auto-enrolment for free school and college meals.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling child poverty. We want to make sure that every family that needs support can access it.
Introducing a new eligibility threshold for free school meals (FSM) so that all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit are eligible from the start of academic year 2026 to 2027 will make it much easier for parents to know whether their children are entitled to FSM. This new entitlement will mean over 500,000 of the most disadvantaged children will begin to access free meals, pulling 100,000 children out of poverty.
We are also rolling out improvements to the Eligibility Checking System, making it easier for local authorities and schools to check whether children are eligible for FSM.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase awareness of free school meal eligibility among parents with newly eligible children from September 2026.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling child poverty. To support the expansion of free school meals from September 2026 to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit, the department has published guidance for schools and local authorities to support communication with families about the new entitlement.
The department is also providing information to families at the start of the school year to help them understand the new eligibility criteria and how to access support. In addition, we have worked with the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure that households receiving Universal Credit are provided with information about free school meals eligibility and how to apply.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to provide long-term funding for milk provision schemes which are separate to government-funded breakfast clubs and free school meals.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department works across government on policies to support children's health and nutrition. We know milk is excellent for children’s growth and development. The School Food Standards state lower fat milk or lactose reduced milk must be available to children who want it for drinking, at least once a day during school hours.
The government continues to fund the Department of Health and Social Care-led Nursery Milk Scheme, a statutory scheme which enables eligible early years childcare providers to reclaim the cost of providing 189ml (one-third of a pint) of milk each day to a child under five years who is provided with two hours or more of childcare on that day.
The government also continues to support the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs-led School Milk Subsidy Scheme, which subsidises the provision of individual portions of milk in schools, and has committed to consult on any plans for change.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help schools adapt to rising temperatures.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department takes periods of hot weather and heatwaves seriously and has published a climate risk assessment. We continue to support responsible bodies and schools to provide education in a safe environment. The department has also published guidance to support education settings during hot weather, available at: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2026/06/hot-weather-and-heatwaves-guidance-for-schools-and-other-education-settings/. This advice draws on guidance from the UK Health Security Agency.
We are improving infrastructure and strengthening resilience across the education estate through our Education Estates Strategy. This includes a new Renewal and Retrofit Programme, backed by £710 million to 2029/30, to improve the condition of school and college buildings and increase resilience to climate change so buildings can last for decades to come and are net zero ready. We are investing almost £3 billion per year by 2034/35 in capital maintenance to improve the condition of the school and college estate, and investing almost £20 billion through to 2034/35 in the School Rebuilding Programme to rebuild over 750 schools across England with buildings that are future proofed against the risks of climate change.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of expanding the eligibility criteria for the Holiday Activities and Food programme to include all children living in poverty.
Answered by Olivia Bailey
The Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme is specifically targeted at children and families facing the greatest levels of disadvantage. We are spending more than £200 million a year to provide free nutritious meals, enriching activities, and safe environments to eligible children during school holidays. This benefits their health, wellbeing and readiness to learn, with more than 500,000 children benefitting from HAF over the last year.
To ensure HAF reaches as many children who need it as possible, local authorities may also use up to 15% of their funding to provide free or subsidised places to children who do not meet the eligibility criteria but who the local authority believe could benefit from HAF.
HAF sits alongside wider support for low-income families, including the expansion of free school meals, free breakfast clubs, and broader action through the child poverty strategy.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to publish plans for office closures within her Department.
Answered by Olivia Bailey
As part of the department’s People Strategy and in line with the government's commitment to a more productive, agile and efficient civil service, the department has developed a long-term locations strategy. This includes closing six of our smaller sites and moving towards a focused 8-site model, with locations at Bristol, Cambridge, Coventry, Darlington, London, Manchester, Nottingham and Sheffield. My noble Friend, the Secretary of State for Education does not plan to publish plans for office closures. Our external communications are focused on the department's strategy, delivery and changes impacting the sector. This is an internal issue for the department.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the savings targets are for each directorate in her Department for (a) 2026-27, (b) 2027-28 and (c) 2028-29.
Answered by Olivia Bailey
Each year, the department must make tough decisions to ensure every pound of taxpayers’ money is driving high and rising standards for our children, ensuring every child has the best start in life.
The department considers priorities across the department to determine how best to allocate its available funding.
A breakdown of the department’s funding for 2026/27 will be published in due course in the 2026/27 Main Estimate and in each subsequent year. This will be published on GOV.UK.
The 2025/26 Main Estimate can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/main-supply-estimates-2025-to-2026.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will (a) complete a full skills audit of staff within her Department and (b) share that audit with trade unions.
Answered by Olivia Bailey
The department supports 15 professions to which we encourage staff to align themselves, and we collect data monthly on the number of members of each. As part of the Government Skills Campus platform, which is currently in development, the department is exploring the most effective ways to capture the live skills of staff. The department will then seek to agree with trade unions an appropriate approach to sharing this data.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish her Department's (a) business case, (b) workforce plan, (c) equality impact assessment and (d) redundancy mitigation measures for the plans to close six offices.
Answered by Olivia Bailey
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education does not plan to publish the business case, workforce plan, equality impact assessment or redundancy mitigation measures for the department’s plans to close six offices. This is an internal business decision and does not impact the department’s remit, strategy or delivery plans, nor have any direct impact on the sector. As such, it is not appropriate for the department to comment on the plans externally.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve accessibility to higher education for people with progressive neurological conditions such as Friedreich’s ataxia.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to ensuring that all students are supported to both access higher education (HE) and to thrive while they are there. For example, in our recent Skills White Paper we committed to significantly increasing the take-up of the Adjustment Planner. This allows all individuals to go through the support that they think would be right for them and discuss this with the people they are studying with.
It also remains the case that HE providers have responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments for all their disabled students.
Wherever possible, disabled students should expect to have their needs met through inclusive learning practices and individual reasonable adjustments made by their provider.
In addition to reasonable adjustments, the Disabled Students’ Allowance is available for the provision of more specialist support. For students with progressive neurological conditions, such as Friedreich’s ataxia, this may include assistive technology.